Glistening Darkness
by etg12
Summary: This unique twist on the hit series "Private" is bound to capture readers from the very start. With many new characters and new plots, who will the next victim be?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I drove up the winding lane road until I saw the sign. `_Easton Academy Established 1858' _it read in faded letters. The limousine turned to go under the iron and brick archway and I took a look at my new school. The buildings were made of brick and stone topped by shingled roofs and spires. The doorways alone showed the pride and tradition of the school. They were ancient and weathered with thick wooden doors on iron hinges. Cobblestone walks were lined by neat beds of flowers. There were fields of freshly mowed bright green grass. Everything I saw was perfect.

"Just head to the right." I told the driver, directing him towards my new dorm, Billings. As he turned we drove by a pair of convertible Mercedes. A girl with wavy blond hair was unloading a huge set of Louis Vuitton luggage onto the curb.

Outside of the three dorms standing around the circle at the midpoint of the hill, families were hugging and kissing checking that everyone had everything they needed. Boys in khakis and white polos kicked around soccer balls. Girls with shimmering hair compared schedules and whispered to one another. I wondered which of these girls I`d become friends with.

The car parked in front of Billings and I took a moment to recognize how lucky I was to be in the most prestigious dorm in all of Easton Academy. It just happened to be that my mother was part of the board at Easton and was able to get me a spot in Billings my first year. I stepped out of the limo, waiting as my driver unpacked my Gucci bags full of all the stuff I`d need for my first year, which was pretty much everything I owned.

My nerves singled with anticipation as I stepped into my new dorm. The tall ceilings and granite staircases, it was all like a dream. I looked at the piece of paper posted on the bulletin board to the right of the door. It said I was in Room 13. I climbed up the smooth granite staircase to the second floor.

The hall was long and had smooth wooden doors on either side. There was a group of girls standing in the middle of the hallway giggling and whispering to one another. They glanced over at me and I smiled. They gave me a long glare and then got back to their gossip. I stood tall trying to impress them with my confidence but none of the girls seemed to notice. I finally got to my room and slipped inside shutting the door behind. Expecting it to be empty, I sighed in relief. To my surprise I saw two girls sitting on one of the two beds. One of the girls had long wavy blonde hair that rested perfectly on her shoulders. She was wearing a white blouse with a black pencil skirt and a pearl necklace dangled gracefully from her neck. The other girl was tall and had light brown hair which contrasted beautifully with her ebony skin. A red headband rested atop her short brown cropped hair. She wore a deep turquoise v-neck tucked into a pair of dark wash skinny jeans. She looked up at me and spoke.

"Hi there!" she had a spoke in a calm voice "You must be my new roommate!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Hey!" I said trying to sound energetic. I looked around the room briefly. At the far end of the room was a large bay window with a window seat that looked out onto the beautiful gardens of Easton Academy. There were two beds on either side of the window with crisp white sheet and neat hospital corners. I lay my heavy suitcase on the ground and sat on the unoccupied bed.

"So... I guess I'll introduce myself." Said the girl with the cropped brown hair. She was now lying on her stomach, her makeup finished. "My name's Reed Brennan. What's your name?"

"It's Annabelle but you can call me Annie." I said trying to sound confident but utterly amazed at both of the girl's beauty.

"Well, hi Annie welcome to Billings. It's going to be a great year." Her voice was smooth and calming. I suddenly felt some sort of connection with these girls. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all.

The girl beside Reid spoke next. "Well, I guess I better introduce myself as well. I'm Ariana Osgood." She smiled menacingly and turned back to face Reed. "Like Reed's makeup? I just came up with the colour combination this morning!"

Reed's eyes were coated in a pure gold colour with a blue highlight. Her eyeliner was dark blue and thick. It was a perfect combination for Reid, really making her eyes pop. "Love it!" I replied, smiling in approval.

"Thanks"

I had spent hours in the morning doing my makeup and it didn't even compare to what was on Reed. It made me feel a little worried.

"So, you ready for dinner?" said Ariana.

My stomach grumbled "I sure am!"

When we walked into the cafeteria, Ariana ran over to some friends while Reed stayed behind with me. She brought be over to a table full of popular looking girls and boys. Ariana was at the end of the table flirting with a group of guys. I sat down with Reed on one side of me and a stunningly gorgeous girl on the other side.

The cafeteria was loud, filled with talk of the summer and catching up on the latest gossip. Our table in particular was bustling with conversation. Reed was talking about how boring her summer had been with her brother and the girl beside me was talking about her what she had bought over the summer. The list seemed to go on and on. They all seemed to eye me every so often but never bothered to ask my name. It seemed as though having a new girl at Billing's was no big deal. Finally Reed introduced me to them.

"This is Annabelle." She pointed to me and everyone stared. I blushed a bit and could feel my cheeks reddening. I was worried about what these girls might think of me. Their eyes were like lasers, scanning me up and down, searching for any flaws. After what seemed like hours of embarrassment their eyes finally drifted away as though they had accepted me. "She goes by Annie" Reed said again.

"Hi Annie!" said the girl beside me. "My name's Kiran! Welcome to Easton." Kiran was gorgeous. Her light brown hair was thick and luscious and her browny-gold eyes looked like gems. She could have been a super model. She was wearing an orange summer dress with a brown belt and brown leather boots.

I was introduced to a few more people around the table. Noelle was a tall brown-haired girl who seemed to be the leader of Billings. She talked about Billings and how grateful I should feel to be living there. "Billings is more than just a home, it's a family" she kept saying. I also met Taylor and Sabine aswell as a few boys, Dash and Josh. By the end of the night I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. When it was finally time to go back to our dorms I was relieved. I just wanted to get a good sleep before tomorrow when I would begin classes.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I was back in my dorm after a long night. Reed was still out with Noelle so I was finally alone in my dorm. At first I wanted to relax after such a long day but I knew it was probably best to unpack first. My bag was lying at the foot of my bed and I grabbed it to bring to the closet.

The closet was on my side of the room and was quite big. It had all built in storage made of light wood. Reed had already unpacked all her clothes on one side of the closet so I took the other side for myself. It took a while for me to unpack all my stuff. Everything needed to be perfect and in order. Just as I was finishing unpacking my last few t-shirts, Reed flung through the door her anger visible through her flushed red face and clenched fists.

"What happened?" I asked her, a bit flustered at her grand entrance.

"It's nothing," she replied forcing a quick smile onto her face. "It's just... I don't know, it's just sometimes I can't stand Ariana. Noelle treats us to drinks and all Ariana can talk about the whole night, in front of everybody is how wrong Thomas and I are together. I mean, what does she have against Thomas or me for that matter? All Ariana ever talks about these days is Thomas. 'Thomas is too immature'. 'Thomas is a fake'. I don't know why she's so jealous. There are plenty of other guys out there for her. She doesn't need to steal _my_ boyfriend. It's embarrassing, the way she treats me in front of my friends. I'm fed up with her. You know what?" she said starting to calm down. "I'm going to talk to her. I'm going to get some answers from her and she is not going to bother me about Thomas again."

Her fists slowly unclenched and she sat down on her bed taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry you had to hear that," Reed said after a while. "That was probably a lot to take in."

"Oh, don't worry" I replied trying to sound sympathetic. I was actually glad she had expressed her feelings about Ariana. I felt more like I was part of the whole "Billing's family", that I was finally starting to fit in. All I wanted here was to have friends, people I could rely on to tell secrets and share stories with. I wanted to say something to comfort Reed but I didn't want to embarrass myself or make things worth. Instead, I sat down on my newly made bed. There was an awkward silence and then Reed spoke.

"Thanks," she said. "It helps to be able to tell someone these things, even if it might her a bit." She giggled and I joined in.

"No problem," I replied, lying back on my bed and closing my eyes. It had been a good day and I couldn't wait for classes tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed as I always did. I was a morning person and loved the way the world looked in the morning. At home, every morning I would get out of bed a walk to my large window. Sometimes I would gaze at the scene around me for a few minutes and take in the beauty. It was a good way to get the day started and it usually calmed me down.

Here, in my dorm, the sun was shining through a sliver in the purple curtains, warming the side of my face. Reed's bed was empty but I heard the tap running in the bathroom and decided she was in there.

I sat out of bed and walked to the window. If I did it at home I was going to do it here. I opened the curtains, letting the rest of the light gleam into the room. It took a while for my eyes to get used to so much light but when they did I was glad. I hadn't realized what a great view we got from this room. From the window you could see almost all of Easton's campus, including its field and "Hell Hall" where I would be taking classes. In the background you could see rolls of mountains. It was really beautiful.

"Morning," I jumped and turned around. It was Reed. "Are you ready for the first day of classes?"

"Ya," I replied "can't wait"! I closed the curtains and headed to the closet determined to pick the perfect outfit for the day. After going through my whole closet for what seemed like half an hour, I finally found it. A blue and white plaid mini skirt was paired with a simple white v-neck. With a pair of black nights and a simple pearl necklace, I had to admit, I looked really cute. I did my makeup and prepared my school bag then slipped on a pair of black leather boots and headed out the door.

When I arrived at the cafeteria, Reed saw me and waved me over to her table. I sat down beside her.

"Has anybody seen Ariana?" Noelle asked from the other side of the table. "She wasn't in our dorm this morning and I haven't seen her at all today." Everyone at the table glanced around the cafeteria then shook their heads.

"She probably was embarrassed after last night," said Kiran, exchanging a glance with Taylor and Reed. I wondered what was going on between the three of them.

When breakfast was finished, we headed off to classes with worried looks on our faces. My first class was French. This was one of the only classes I wasn't looking forward to. Ever since I had started learning the language in Grade 1, I had been horrible at it and despite my recent trip to France, I still couldn't seem to understand anything anyone was saying. I had pretty much given up trying to learn the language in Grade 7 when I had gotten a 62% on my French final.

When I got to the class, I took an empty seat in the back of the classroom hoping that sitting there meant the teacher wouldn't ask me any questions and I wouldn't have to tell him I didn't know the answer. The teacher entered the classroom. He was short and stubby and had thin white hair a top his hair. He instructed us to take out our textbooks and turn to page... well I didn't exactly know what page he had said. Instead I looked over at the boy sitting beside me. He was on page 82.

"No cheating!" he said under his breath, a grin on his face.

"Sorry," I replied, my face turning bright red. "I was just looking at the page you were at." I looked up at him. His skin was tan and soft-looking. He had shaggy-brown hair and brown eyes that shone in the sunlight. He had broad shoulders and an athletic body. He smiled and I turned even redder then I already was, realizing I had been staring at him for some time. Just then a man opened the classroom door. He wore a business suit and looked stern.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said politely. "I would like to speak to Annabelle."

Everyone turned in their seats trying to figure out who the culprit was. I slowly stood up out of my seat. Keeping my eyes at the front I headed towards the door. I finally got to the front of the classroom and the man escorted me out.

He looked at me threateningly. "Follow me." He took me to an office and told me to sit. I took a seat at one of the three beige couches. Waiting there was torture. I had no idea why I was hear or what was happening. After what felt like hours, Noelle appeared in the door. She smiled when she saw me and took a seat on the couch opposite me. She looked fairly calm for someone in the same position as me. Next came Reed and then Taylor. I saw Reed and Noelle whispering and wondered if they knew what this was about but before I could ask them, the dean called us in to his office.

After we all were sitting down in his office he began, "I'm sure all of you have noticed that Ariana has been missing today. Before we call the police for an investigation, however, we have been told to speak to you. If you have any evidence pertaining to where Ariana might be, speak up now."

No one said anything. "Okay then, you may all go back to classes. We need you to stay calm. Do not talk about this to anyone outside of you four. Now go back to classes, girls."

As I exited the office and started on my way back to french class I began to think about the situation we were in. Easton was turning out to be a little different than I had expected.


End file.
